Microchip cards coming to fight data thieves

Feb. 6, 2014

Updated 7:30 p.m.

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This product image courtesy of Travelex shows the Travelex prepaid smart card. This new card utilizes the microchip and PIN technology that is standard in credit cards in Europe making it easier to pay for things when traveling abroad. ANONYMOUS, ASSOCIATED PRESS

This product image courtesy of Travelex shows the Travelex prepaid smart card. This new card utilizes the microchip and PIN technology that is standard in credit cards in Europe making it easier to pay for things when traveling abroad. ANONYMOUS, ASSOCIATED PRESS

The “chip” is coming. Amid relentless revelations of cyberthieves stealing our credit card and other personal data, there's a renewed push to fortify the plastic cards sitting in millions of Americans' wallets.

Specifically, the buzz is about switching U.S. credit and debit cards to ones embedded with a tiny microchip containing a customer's data. Widely used in Europe, Asia and Latin America, these so-called smart cards have sharply curbed financial losses due to counterfeit, lost or stolen cards. They've been almost unheard of in the United States, but that's changing.

“There's no excuse for us not migrating to the chip,” said California state Sen. Jerry Hill, a Democrat who recently explored introducing legislation to prod California retailers and financial institutions into embracing microchip technology more quickly. “Yes, there may be a cost, but if Mexico, Brazil, China and Europe can absorb it, so can we.

“We used to be the first with consumer technology and consumer protections,” he added, “and now it looks like we're behind.”

Data intrusions, like those that hit Target over the holidays, or crafts store Michael's in late January, inflict damage that doesn't go away overnight. Months afterward, they rattle consumers' confidence, bruise retailers' images and heap more fraud losses onto banks and credit unions.

Although data breaches take many forms and not every breach leads to credit or debit card fraud, the growing number of U.S. incidents is unsettling.

Last year, more than 740 million consumer records – credit card and Social Security numbers, email addresses and computer username/passwords – were exposed, making 2013 “the worst year” ever, according to the Online Trust Alliance, a Seattle-based nonprofit that tracks data breaches and advises businesses on how to prevent them.

“The magnitude, velocity and scope of these incidents is accelerating,” said Craig Spiezle, the Online Trust Alliance's president. And it's no accident that high-volume retailers such as Target are getting hit. “Cybercriminals are being more precise and sophisticated about who they're targeting, in order to get the biggest payload.”

Dealing with cybertheft of credit/debit card information is a costly, unnerving headache.

Anne Bartkiewicz of Sacramento knows the hassle only too well. Last year, in June and October, two of her banks canceled and reissued her credit cards due to suspected data breaches. She had to redo all of her online bill payments, including her Amazon and Netflix accounts. This year, in January alone, she's already been notified of possible fraudulent activity by several banks and retailers, including Target, which offered her free credit monitoring.

“I've been inundated with it. It's been a pain,” said Bartkiewicz, who said she's now monitoring her credit card statements online – daily.

Primarily because of the billion-dollar costs, the United States lags the rest of the world in adopting the global standard for microchipped cards, known as EMV (for Europay, MasterCard and Visa). Until now, no one wanted to be first.

A decade ago, Target explored the adoption of microchipped credit cards. But in 2004, the chain abandoned a planned $40 million, three-year rollout because it would slow customers' cash-register transactions, be costly to implement and would not offer enough payback, since Target would have been the only major U.S. retailer offering EMV cards.

That cost-benefit analysis is rapidly changing.

“It's inevitable, going to a chip-and-PIN technology instead of a magnetic stripe,” said Bill Dombrowski, president and CEO of the California Retailers Association, which represents large retailers, department stores, fast-food outlets and other merchants.

In the past, he said, “America wasn't ready for it,” but the increase in costly data breaches has changed attitudes about microchipped cards.

“It's a proven technology,” he said.

Nationally, financial institutions and merchants face an October 2015 deadline – handed out by American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa – to have EMV-equipped cards, readers and ATMs. Those who don't will have to cover fraud losses due to point-of-sale theft of customer data.

Meeting that deadline is no small undertaking. Nationwide, the cost of issuing some 510 million new EMV plastic cards, installing millions of EMV readers at retail outlets and converting tens of thousands of ATMs is estimated at roughly $8 billion, according to a 2011 study by First Data Corp., an Atlanta-based global payments processing company.

For industries such as grocery stores, where there's a card reader at every checkout lane, the switchover will be pricey. The Food Marketing Institute, which represents about 40,000 U.S. grocery stores and 25,000 pharmacies, says the new readers could cost around $1,000 apiece, plus additional costs for updating software and passing compliance audits.

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